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MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Sunday (AFP) - Britain's Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson with a powerful right hand blow after two minutes and 25 seconds of the eighth round here Saturday to retain his world heavyweight boxing crown.

Lewis rose to 40-2 with one drawn after his 31st pro knockout to retain the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles while former undisputed world champion Tyson fell to 49-4.

A punishing right hand to the chin spelled doom for Tyson, who had been punished round after round by the champion's superior jab and solid rights and uppercuts.

Lewis rose to 14-2 with one draw in world title fights while Tyson fell to 11-4.

Tyson had not lost since the infamous 1997 "Bite Fight" when he was disqualified in the third round for biting Evander Holyfield's ears. Lewis was knocked out 14 months ago by Hasim Rahman but won a rematch last November to regain the titles.

Lewis inflicted steady punishment throughout the seventh round, staggering the former champion with a flurry of six punches to Tyson's head in rapid succession.

A Lewis uppercut made Tyson squat early in the eighth round and seconds later, two more punishing uppercuts set the stage for the left jab and powerful right to the jaw that sent Tyson to the canvas. Tyson tried to rise in vain, then was counted out and spent several moments in the arms of referee Eddie Cotton.

Tyson was aggressive at the start, using his left to open a path to the larger Lewis, working his jab and evading Lewis' longer reach.

But Lewis was soon scoring repeatedly with his left jab, using his size to full advantage. Lewis landed a hard right uppercut to Tyson's chin in the second round and in the third opened a cut over Tyson's right eye.

Cotton took a point from Lewis in the fourth round, one the British fighter dominated, after Tyson was doubled over and Lewis hit him in the back. Tyson went to the mat but Lewis was not awarded a knockdown.

Lewis scored with uppercuts and used his left jab to set up his powerful rights, Tyson becoming more and more reluctant to even try and get within the champion's reach as the rounds wore on.

It was the first fight between Tyson, the most dominant fighter of the 1980s, and Lewis, the best of the 1990s. Tyson had fought less than 19 full rounds in the past five years. Lewis fought 12 fights in the same span.

Armed police officers escorted both fighters into the ring, Tyson arriving to a mixture of cheers and jeers and Lewis to a less vocal reception of mainly cheers.

The fight began without the usual touching of gloves, each man having been given instructions in his locker room, and a line of security guards stretched across the center of the ring from neutral corners to ensure no pre-fight brawling.

The safety measures were deemed necessary after Tyson bit Lewis' left thigh during a brawl at a January news conference.

The fight was to have been last April in Las Vegas. When Nevada officials would not license Tyson to fight, Tennessee officials quickly granted Tyson a boxing license and Memphis won the right to stage the fight.

Unprecedented security measures kept hundreds of spectators, some paying as much as 2,400 dollars a seat, lined up outside the Pyramid arena. Almost all of the 20,000 seats were filled for the main event, with a paid attendance of 15,327. Some 600,000 advance pay-per-view telecast purchases gave promoters hope of record revenues from viewers around the globe.

Each fighter was guaranteed 17.5 million dollars, although Lewis, 36, figures to make up to 25 million dollars while Tyson, 35, will take away far less than 17.5 million, having to satisfy debts from prior fight contracts.

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